GS India Equity I Acc EUR |
by Ramanand Kothari
Goldman Sachs India Equity remains an attractive offering, led by an impressive lead manager and supported by a solid team that has regained stability and expanded its analytical resources. As a result, we have upgraded the People Pillar rating to Above Average from Average. Its well-codified, time-tested investment approach with a small/mid-cap focus and strong execution continues to earn an Above Average Process Pillar rating. Lead manager Hiren Dasani is a seasoned investor and firm veteran who took charge of the strategy in April 2017. His involvement runs deep, as he joined the India equity team in 2007, previously comanaged the strategy, and led the India equity research team for four years. In his 23 years of investing experience, he has gained a deep understanding of Indian companies and markets. Dasani continues to impress us with his strong passion for investing, commitment to the strategy’s well-established philosophy, investment insights, thoughtful portfolio construction, and how the stock thesis ties back to the investment process. Dasani is well-supported by Aman Batra, head of the India equity research, and our conviction has grown in his abilities as a capable investor and manager. He brings valuable expertise and an impressive 14-year tenure at the firm. The duo draws from an onshore Mumbai-based team of four senior analysts, which sports 18 years of average investment experience and seven years of firm tenure. Encouragingly, this team has gained stability after seeing two long-tenured analysts exit in 2021. Additionally, they have extended their analytical resources by adding two junior support analysts with a plan to add two more in the future to maintain the workload and expand their research breadth. The team follows a time-tested investment approach that has been in place since its inception and consistently implemented across the cycles. It looks for fundamentally sound businesses at reasonable discounts to their intrinsic values. The robust bottom-up research process supplemented by the team’s expertise has helped them identify mispriced opportunities, especially among small- and mid-cap names, which account for roughly 40%-50% of the portfolio (versus 30% in the MSCI India Investable Market Index) and have yielded meaningful alpha over the years. It is also reassuring the team has refined and standardized the research process in recent years, which should help it in stock coverage and idea generation. Dasani has built a credible record during his tenure. From May 1, 2017, through May 31, 2024, the R Acc USD clean share class closely matched the performance of the category benchmark Morningstar India Target Market Exposure Index and the manager’s defined MSCI India IMI. However, it outperformed offshore India equity Morningstar Category peers by a healthy margin. Encouragingly, strong stock picks within the small and mid-caps have helped the strategy beat peers over his tenure and the longer term. |
Morningstar Pillars | |
People | Above Average |
Parent | Average |
Process | Above Average |
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